The three-member Shenzhou 10 crew, who were also announced on Monday, include Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping. Nie earlier flew on the 2005 Shenzhou 6 mission. Zhang and Wang are making their first spaceflight.

Wang is set to be China's second woman in space with this launch.

The 15-day mission will include two docking tests with the Tiangong-1 space lab module launched in 2011. While living on the prototype for China's planned space station, the crew will take part in medical and technical tests, as well speak with students in China.

"The launch ground and all control systems are ready. Astronauts are in good and stable condition," said Wu Ping, China's manned space program spokesperson, at a press conference at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Monday.

The computer-guided rendezvous began three hours earlier at 10:48 p.m. EDT on Wednesday (0248 GMT Thursday). Shenzhou 10 made first contact with Tiangong-1 at 1:11 a.m. EDT (0511 GMT).

Haisheng, Xiaoguang and Yaping will next enter the space lab, where they will live and conduct a battery of medical and technical tests.

The Shenzhou 10 crew are slated to conduct a second rendezvous and docking test later in the 15-day mission, under manual, or piloted, control.

Robert Pearlman

Shenzhou 10 crew enters Tiangong-1

China's Shenzhou 10 crew entered the Tiangong-1 space module on Thursday (June 13), three hours after docking their spacecraft at the "Heavenly Palace."

Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping opened the hatch to the prototype Chinese space station at 4:17 a.m. EDT (0817 GMT), after the spacecraft completed an automated docking procedure with the orbiting Tiangong-1 at 1:18 a.m. EDT (0518 GMT).

After a series of preparations, the three astronauts entered the orbital compartment of the Shenzhou 10 capule, took off their launch and entry pressure suits and changed into blue-colored jumpsuits. China's Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) then gave the "go" to enter Tiangong-1 after ground verifying that the environmental conditions inside the space module were safe.

With the help of Zhang, Nie opened the hatch of Tiangong-1, then the three astronauts floated in, waving to a camera inside Tiangong-1.

Now on board, they will conduct a battery of scientific and technical experiments during the 15-day flight, in a bid to gather experience for a future space station.

The docking procedure was the fifth between a Shenzhou capsule and Tiangong-1. Previous dockings included two automated linkups with the unmanned Shenzhou 8 in 2011 and both an automated and manual, or piloted, docking by the manned Shenzhou 9 in 2012.

Robert Pearlman

Shenzhou 10 undocks, flies around space lab before returning to Earth

China's Shenzhou 10 with its three-member crew will return to the Earth on Tuesday (June 25) around 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT or 8 a.m. Beijing time, June 26) after successfully conducting a fly-around and rendezvous test Tuesday with the Tiangong-1 module, officials at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center said.

The fly-around and rendezvous was China's first ever such test.

Following undocking from the Tiangong-1 at 7:05 p.m. EDT Monday (2305 GMT), the crewed Shenzhou 10 moved back to a point from where the spacecraft changed its orbit and flew around the prototype space station, the Xinhua state news service reported.

Under the command of ground controllers, Shenzhou 10 adjusted its orientation at a point behind Tiangong-1 ("Heavenly Palace"), and approached and rendezvoused with the module.

Earlier, the three astronauts, Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping, closed the hatch leading into Tiangong-1 and moved into to the return capsule of the Shenzhou 10 at around 5 p.m. EDT, after collecting experimental equipment and items inside the space lab.

Before leaving Tiangong-1, the three astronauts radioed and used sign language to express their thanks to their flight controllers.

Launched June 11, Shenzhou 10 docked twice with Tiangong-1 under automated and piloted control. In the 12 days spent on Tiangong-1, the astronauts conducted medical experiments, technical tests and delivered a lecture to students about the physics of microgravity.

Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth Tuesday night (June 25), two weeks after launching on the final flight to China's first prototype space station.

Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping landed aboard their Shenzhou 10 spacecraft at about 8:07 p.m. EDT (0007 GMT) on a sun-lit prairie in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where it was 8:07 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

The two men and woman, who lifted off atop a Long March rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on June 11, crewed China's fifth manned space flight since 2003. After 15 days circling the Earth, they set a record for the longest mission by a Chinese crew.

See here for discussion about China's Shenzhou 10 mission to Tiangong-1.